The present invention relates to a device for detaching coating skins from processed meat products, and especially for detaching a fibrous casing equipped with a net from a processed meat product in order to facilitate peeling. The present invention further relates to a method using such a device.
Fibrous casings are commonly used for packaging processed food products, especially sausages and more specifically sausages of salami type, while they are being cured. In order to shape the sausage surface, one can use a fibrous casing having a solid, substantially inextensible net on its outside. The fibrous casing has been adapted to form projections protruding from the net apertures as the casing is being stuffed with sausage mixture. For these protuberances to give the slice edge a decorative wavy shape as the sausage tube is being sliced, it is vital that the casing be tightly filled. While the sausage is being cured, the net with the casing underneath clings firmly into the sausage surface. As a result, the casing and the net are difficult to remove, i.e. peeling is difficult after the product has been cured.
In a dry state, the fibrous casing is very rigid, however, it is humidified before being filled with sausage mixture, so that it becomes easy to handle. Moisturising is typically performed by dissolving the fibrous casing in a suitable liquid, water for instance, whereby the casing becomes twice as thick. After it has been stuffed, the casing is usually sealed at a suitable point with a fastening device, preferably a small metal clip, whose inner diameter thus depends on the thickness of the humidified fibrous casing. When drying, the fibrous casing shrinks, substantially resuming its original thickness, so that a small opening forms inside the clip. It has now been surprisingly found that this opening allows such an amount of air to be blown between the fibrous casing and the surface of the sausage mixture that appreciably facilitates detachment of the fibrous casing from the surface of the sausage stuffing.
A device has now been developed that allows the peeling process described above to be facilitated and partly automated.
The object of the invention is a device for detaching a fibrous casing from the surface of a cured processed meat product. The device is characterised by having a blowpipe adapted for blowing compressed air between the fibrous casing and the surface of the processed meat product, inside the sealing ring, through the opening formed as the fibrous casing is drying, and means for locking the fibrous casing on the blowpipe so as to steer compressed air into said opening.
Another object of the invention is a method for detaching a fibrous casing from the surface of a cured processed meat product, in which the device of the invention is used.
The invention also relates to a method for detaching a net-coated fibrous casing from the surface of a cured processed meat product that has been shaped with said net-coated fibrous casing and comprises projections on its surface, the method being characterised by blowing compressed air between the fibrous casing and the surface of the processed meat product.
Other preferred features of the device and the method of the invention are defined in the accompanying claims and in the detailed description below.
The device and the method in accordance with the invention are particularly usable in cases where a substantially inextensible net has been disposed on the outer surface of a removable fibrous casing.